From xenophobic appropriations of Joan of Arc to Afro-futurism and cyberpunk, the "national" characters of the colonial era often seem to be dissolving into postnational and virtual subjects. In "Continental Drift, " Emily Apter deftly analyzes the French colonial and postcolonial experience as a case study in the erosion of belief in national destiny and the emergence of technologically mediated citizenship. Among the many topics Apter explores are the fate of national literatures in an increasingly transnational literary climate; the volatile stakes of Albert Camus's life and reputation...

From xenophobic appropriations of Joan of Arc to Afro-futurism and cyberpunk, the "national" characters of the colonial era often seem to be dissolvin...

How does African literature written in French change the way we think about nationalism, colonialism, and postcolonialism? How does it imagine the encounter between Africans and French? And what does the study of African literature bring to the fields of literary and cultural studies? Christopher L. Miller explores these and other questions in "Nationalists and Nomads." Miller ranges from the beginnings of francophone African literature which he traces not to the 1930s Negritude movement but to the largely unknown, virulently radical writings of Africans in Paris in the 1920s to the...

How does African literature written in French change the way we think about nationalism, colonialism, and postcolonialism? How does it imagine the enc...

"Africa Wo/Man Palava" offers the first close look at eight Nigerian women writers and proposes a new vernacular theory based on their work. Flora Nwapa, Adaora Lily Ulasi, Buchi Emecheta, Funmilayo Fakunle, Ifeoma Okoye, Zaynab Alkali, Eno Obong, and Simi Bedford are the writers Chikwenye Okonjo Ogunyemi considers. African womanism, an emerging model of female discourse, is at the heart of their writing. In their work, female resistance shifts from the idea of "palava," or trouble, to a focus on consensus, compromise, and cooperation; it tackles sexism, totalitarianism, and ethnic prejudice....

"Africa Wo/Man Palava" offers the first close look at eight Nigerian women writers and proposes a new vernacular theory based on their work. Flora Nwa...

Arabs have traditionally considered classical Arabic poetry, together with the Qur'an, as one of their supreme cultural accomplishments. Taking a comparatist approach, Jaroslav Stetkevych attempts in this book to integrate the classical Arabic lyric into an enlarged understanding of lyric poetry as a genre. Stetkevych concentrates on the "places of lost bliss" that furnish the dominant motif in the lyric-elegiac opening section ("nasib") of the classic Arab code, or "qusidah." In defining the Arabic lyrical genre, he shows how pre-Islamic lamentations over abandoned campsites evolved, in...

Arabs have traditionally considered classical Arabic poetry, together with the Qur'an, as one of their supreme cultural accomplishments. Taking a comp...

After centuries of oppressive Ottoman rule, the Arab world began to find new vitality and freedom in the twentieth century. The accompanying resurgence of creative expression is splendidly reflected in this definitive anthology of contemporary Arabic poetry, which spans the modern Arab world from the turn of the century to the present, from the Arab Gulf to Morocco. The editor, Salma Khadra Jayyusi, a renowned expert on modern Arabic literature, presents a through introduction to the works of more than ninety Arab poets. To create the best possible English translation, each selection has been...

After centuries of oppressive Ottoman rule, the Arab world began to find new vitality and freedom in the twentieth century. The accompanying resurgenc...

This study explores how contemporary Saudi women writers use their writings as a way to gain control over the rules of cultural discourse in their society. The author examines the work of nine influential women writers and presents excerpts of their writings which appear here for the first time in English.

This study explores how contemporary Saudi women writers use their writings as a way to gain control over the rules of cultural discourse in their soc...

The Columbia Guide to East African Literature in English Since 1945 challenges the conventional belief that the English-language literary traditions of East Africa are restricted to the former British colonies of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. Instead, these traditions stretch far into such neighboring countries as Somalia and Ethiopia.

Simon Gikandi and Evan Mwangi assemble a truly inclusive list of major writers and trends. They begin with a chronology of key historical events and an overview of the emergence and transformation of literary culture in the region. Then they provide...

The Columbia Guide to East African Literature in English Since 1945 challenges the conventional belief that the English-language literary tradi...

Columbia's guides to postwar African literature paint a unique portrait of the continent's rich and diverse literary traditions. This volume examines the rapid rise and growth of modern literature in the three postcolonial nations of Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Zambia. It tracks the multiple political and economic pressures that have shaped Central African writing since the end of World War II and reveals its authors' heroic efforts to keep their literary traditions alive in the face of extreme poverty and AIDS.

Adrian Roscoe begins with a list of key political events. Since writers were...

Beginning with the late-nineteenth-century cultural resurgence and continuing through the present day, short stories and novels have given voice to the personal and historical experiences of modern Arabs. This anthology offers a rich and diverse selection of works from more than one hundred and forty prominent Arab writers of fiction. The collection reflects Arab writers' formal inventiveness as well as their intense exploration of various dimensions of modern Arab life, including the impact of modernity, the rise of the oil economy, political authoritarianism, corruption, religion, poverty,...

Beginning with the late-nineteenth-century cultural resurgence and continuing through the present day, short stories and novels have given voice to th...

Translations of twelve popular Arabic plays written and produced during the past thirty years introduce English readers to the vibrant theater scene of the Arab world. The plays-from Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Tunisia-reflect a variety of dramatic trends and styles and provide insights into contemporary social, cultural, and political currents. This well-prepared anthology represents a unique contribution to the study of world drama and modern Middle Eastern culture. Playwrights include Yusuf al-Ani, Abd al-Aziz al-Surayii, the Balalin Company of Jerusalem, Izz al-Din...

Translations of twelve popular Arabic plays written and produced during the past thirty years introduce English readers to the vibrant theater scene o...

"This is a cogent analysis of the complexities of gender in the work of nine contemporary Anglophone and Francophone novelists.... offers illuminating interpretations of worthy writers... " --Multicultural Review

"This book reaffirms Bessie Head's remark that books are a tool, in this case a tool that allows readers to understand better the rich lives and the condition of African women. Excellent notes and a rich bibliography." --Choice

..". a college-level analysis which will appeal to any interested in African studies and literature." --The Bookwatch

This book applies...

"This is a cogent analysis of the complexities of gender in the work of nine contemporary Anglophone and Francophone novelists.... offers illuminat...

"Dried millet breaking," sung by the bard at the end of one episode of this Woi epic of the Kpelle people of Liberia, represents a formula that breaks the flow of events and introduces the epic's complex temporal scaffolding. Examining the singing, narration, dramatic performance, instrumental accompaniment, and timing of the Woi epic, Ruth M. Stone reveals that the Kpelle show time flux through changing timbres, motion, and spatial metaphors in ways fundamentally different from those of much Western art music. In this illuminating study Stone moves beyond typical genre studies of African...

"Dried millet breaking," sung by the bard at the end of one episode of this Woi epic of the Kpelle people of Liberia, represents a formula that bre...

"A struggle between two memories" is how Palestinian poet Mahmud Darwish describes the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis. Within this struggle, the meanings of land and home have been challenged and questioned, so that even heaps of stones become points of contention. Are they proof of ancient Hebrew settlement, or rubble from a bulldozed Palestinian village? The memory of these stones, and of the land itself, is nurtured and maintained in Palestinian writing and other modes of expression, which are used to confront and counter Israeli images and rhetoric. This struggle provides a...

"A struggle between two memories" is how Palestinian poet Mahmud Darwish describes the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis. Within this stru...

The influence of colonialism and race on the development of African literature has been the subject of a number of studies. The effect of patriarchy and gender, however, and indeed the contributions of African women, have up until now been largely ignored by the critics. Contemporary African Literature and the Politics of Gender is the first extensive account of African literature from a feminist perspective.In this first radical and exciting work Florence Stratton outlines the features of an emerging female tradition in African fiction. A chapter is dedicated to each to...

The influence of colonialism and race on the development of African literature has been the subject of a number of studies. The effect of patriarchy a...

This study contextualizes magical realism within current debates and theories of postcoloniality and examines the fiction of three of its West African pioneers: Syl Cheney-Coker of Sierra Leone, Ben Okri of Nigeria and Kojo Laing of Ghana. Brenda Cooper explores the distinct elements of the genre in a West African context, and in relation to: * a range of global expressions of magical realism, from the work of Gabriel Garcia Marquez to that of Salman Rushdie * wider contemporary trends in African writing, with particular attention to how the realism of authors such as Chinua Achebe...

This study contextualizes magical realism within current debates and theories of postcoloniality and examines the fiction of three of its West African...

Medieval Andalusian Courtly Culture discusses the unicum manuscript of the Hadith Bayad wa Riyad, the only illustrated manuscript known to have survived for more than eight centuries of Muslim and Arabic-speaking presence in present-day Spain. The manuscript is of paramount importance as it contains the only known surviving version, both in terms of text and of image, of the love story of Bayad wa Riyad.

This study will place this manuscript within the context of late medieval Mediterranean courtly culture, offering:

Made up of a number of seminal articles that are translated for the first time in English, this prestigious book from Gregor Schoeler gives a reasoned, informed and comprehensive overflow of how the written and the spoken interacted, diverged and received cultural articulation among the Muslim societies of the first two centuries of the Hijra.

Made up of a number of seminal articles that are translated for the first time in English, this prestigious book from Gregor Schoeler gives a reaso...

The writer and politician Mahmud al-Mis'adi is a figure of prime importance in the development of North African literature and cultural politics since the last war. This fascinating book covers both his essays and fiction, written between the 1930s and 1990s, which challenge the boundaries between the sacred and irreligious in the Islamic world. In addition, it also examines Arabic literature and its relationship to the West.

The writer and politician Mahmud al-Mis'adi is a figure of prime importance in the development of North African literature and cultural politics si...